STANDISH, ME – Saint Joseph's College (12-2-0, 7-1-0 GNAC) ousted Rivier University (3-9-1, 2-6-0 GNAC), 6-1, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) women's soccer match at Westerlea Way Field on Monday afternoon.
Freshman forward Desiree Parent (Westborough, Mass.) recorded her first collegiate brace with a pair of markers while Jessica Capozzi (Saugus, Mass.), Kim Jordan (Bangor, Maine), Sam Peters (Gorham, Maine) and Jodi Pollack (Andover, Mass.) also hit pay dirt for the Monks in the lopsided triumph.
Capozzi provided the Royal Blue with an early lead, as she took a pass from Whitney White (Salem, N.H.) and steered a kick past Raiders senior netminder Cassandra Brown (Somersworth, N.H.) in the eighth minute.
Rivier answered less than two minutes later, as the visitors employed some nifty passing to knot the contest at one-apiece at the 9:57 mark. Sophomore midfielder Holly Slocum (Holden, Mass.) found space inside the 18 and delivered a kick to the right corner past sprawling SJC keeper Jaci Lorenzen (Windham, Maine), netting what turned out to be the Raiders' only offense of the afternoon. Lauren Tamposi (Hollis, N.H.) and Susan O'Loughlin (Stoneham, Mass.) were credited with assists on the game-tying score.
The stalemate was short-lived however, as Peters managed to put the Monks on top to stay with a goal in the 14th minute. After corralling the ball near midfield, Peters found a seam up the middle, shot past a handful defenders to create a 1v1 scenario with Brown and buried the sphere into the netting to make it a 2-1 game with 31:36 remaining in the first half.
The scoring spree continued as Pollack scored off a booming free kick from about 30 yards out at the 25:05 mark and Parent potted the first of two tallies – off a Lauren Titus (Arundel, Maine) pass - with 8:36 before the break to make it a 4-1 match going into intermission.
Jordan netted her third goal of the season 10:49 into the second stanza and Parent produced her second marker of the game in the 73rd minute of play to account for the 6-1 final. Danielle Daigle (Dayton, Maine) and Doe Leckie (Naples, Maine) earned assists on the fifth and sixth goals, respectively.
In goal, three SJC keepers saw time as Lorenzen made five saves in 66:16 of play, freshman Amelia Tooker (Westfield, Mass.) was untested in 3:36 between the pipes, and first-year Marina Cameron (Houlton, Maine) added one stop in 20:08 of mop-up duty. Brown tallied 12 saves in a losing effort for the Raiders.
Saint Joseph's held a 23-15 advantage in shots and a 6-4 edge in corner kicks in the victory.
With the win, Saint Joseph's improves to 5-2-0 in the history of the series with Rivier University. The Monks defeated the Raiders by a 2-0 score in Nashua last fall.
Both teams return to the pitch to face GNAC opponents on the road later this week. Saint Joseph's plays at Simmons College on Saturday at 1:00 PM while Rivier travels to Norwich University on Friday for a 6:00 PM kick-off versus the Cadets.
Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 430-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.
